ABOUT JAZZ JANTAR FESTIVAL 2015

The new faces have been a fixed element
of the Jazz Jantar puzzle for years

They are the new artists who are deemed the rising stars in various reviews or ranking lists. We also have musicians who are playing in Poland for the first time. To prove the malcontent thesis that jazz no longer develops and nothing new is going to happen there wrong, we keep looking for artists with fresh ideas for you (and for ourselves as well).

Cécile McLorin Salvant is a perfect contrast to this statement. What is more, she connects the new with the old, which, to be more precise, is the tradition of a female jazz vocalist. As it was said in London Jazz News: Some people ask what happened to the true female jazz vocalists like Ella, Billie or Sarah Vaughn. There cannot be a more powerful and competent heir to this entire tradition than Cécile McLorin Salvant. And the most exciting perspective is that she still has got her entire life in front of her, to go even further.

Kindofjazz.com says that the new album by the über talented Cécile McLorin Savant, released last month, is literally something else. “For One to Love” is a beautiful construction - melodic, sad, innovative and most of all, stupendously performed. “For One to Love” is a beautiful construction - melodic, sad, innovative and most of all, stupendously performed.

Two Norwegian artists will play in Poland for the first time. They are the vocalist Mari Kvien Brunvoll and the saxophonist Marius Neset. It has been written about her that: She has already caused a substantial excitement on the Norwegian jazz scene, as she is a true original like Sidsel Endresen. The voices of such artists enchant you on the spot. A powerful future on the European scene is forecast for him as well. Terje Mosnes of Dagbladet claims that there has not been a better saxophonist in Norway, since Jan Garbarek.

The Danish players of Girls in Airports are also débutantes on the Polish scene. They combine folk and elements of indie and their music is compared to the British bands, who will be mentioned below. If you are curious about the London jazz scene, we do recommend the concerts of Polar Bear and Sons of Kemet. They are bands who create emotionally powerful sounds. They will appeal to both jazz experts and laypeople who are open to music with a soul. The bands are connected by Seb Rochford - a very expressive drum player. We are also eager to inform you that another two drum players will re-appear at the Festival. Their performances have already enchanted the audience of Zak. We remember Gerry Hemingway, who is going to play with the SamuelBlaser's quartet from the concert of Rudresh Mahanthappy's band concert in 2011. Eric Harland, a member of the James Farm, on the other hand built a real fortress of drums and metal plates at the Dave Holland Prism concert in May this year, as Jarek Kowal said. Two bass drums, two snare drums - the whole set looked very impressive, even before it made any sound. He was probably the only one who could decipher the mathematics of these devices. How difficult it was to find the right, split-second moment could be noticed when you saw his facial expression. When he looked around the Sala Suwnicowa with a sweaty face, he resembled a man in a deep trance, whose consciousness entered a world, which is not available to anyone else.

We are happy to watch the musicians whose concerts we remember from the previous editions of our Festival develop and we cannot wait for their new albums. The most original Polish artists like Anna Gadt and Maciej Obara are returning to Zak. Nils Petter Molvaer will play the material of Switch in front of the Polish audience for the first time. It will be similar with ATOMIC and their Lucidity. The Belgian Too Noisy Fish trio is also returning to us. The band is formed by three musicians of the Flat Earth Society ensemble (FJJ 2011). Marc Ribot performed solo in Zak in 2006. He is returning with a concert project Marc Ribot & The Young Philadelphians. The idea of the band is to gather several musicians who are in love with the noisy sounds of Philadelphia and to create a sound bordering on jazz, punk rock, funk and soul. It turns out that Jamaaladeen Tacuma, the bassist and fifth member of the World Saxophone Quartet (FJJ 2012) is a lover of the sound of Philadelphia as well. He is also a long-standing associate of Ornette Coleman and a record-holder of Down Beat in getting the most votes as a talented musician who seems to deserve more attention. But there is also Mary Halvorson in the Ribot's crew. We are looking forward to hearing her in Sala Suwnicowa. There are more of such returns: Reuben Rogers, a fantastic bass player from Aarona Goldberga's trio is a member of Tomasz Stańko New York Quartet (at FJJ in May this year). We remember the saxophonist, Joshua Redman of James Farm from on of the best concert in the history of our Festival, given by the Redman/ Mehldau duet in 2009.

The quartets of Samuel Blaser and Mark Turner will play at the festival for the first time. The later will bring the trumpeter Avishai Cohen, whom Marek Dusza, a music critic, considers one of the most eminent contemporary jazz trumpet player.

The young Polish musicians who won the Młoda Scena Jazzowa competiton will also play at the Festival for the first time. You can read our interviews with their leaders, Mikołaj Poncyliusz, Wojtek Makowski andSławek Pezda in this catalogue.

There are many more interviews (we even return to the March concert of Vijay Iyer for a moment) and at the end there is the coverage of the last years edition of Jazz Jantar Festival by the Frequent Visitor to Our Club.